That Summer Night Flight
by yuuago
Summary: It's Christmas Eve, and Australia is awakened by the sound of someone moving around in his house. Non-pairing.


Notes: This was written as a gift for my dear friend Scrii. Uploaded a little bit late for Christmas, but I wanted to wait until she had seen it on my Livejournal first.

* * *

**That Summer Night Flight**

Australia wasn't sure what woke him up. It might have been the click of the door, the rustle of someone slipping through the house. Or maybe what roused him from the edge of sleep was the sound of footsteps, slow and light, as someone made their way to the living room and stopped there. What followed was the quiet, hushed shuffling of someone moving around and taking some caution not to be heard - but not caution enough.

_Shit_. Well. Can't just let that be, he thought as he slipped out of bed. Best take care of it.

In his groggy state, it wasn't until he had his hand on the doorknob that he remembered the date.

Wait a second.

He slunk to the window and pulled back the curtain enough to peek out, squinting a bit as the light of streetlamps hit his eyes. Sure enough, there it was, right outside: the sleigh, and the six white kangaroos hitched up to it.

They stared at him. Australia stared right back. One of them seemed to raise an eyebrow, as if asking, "What're _you_ lookin' at, mate?"

Well. He let the curtain drop and smiled, satisfied. That explained everything.

* * *

The stranger in his living room was no stranger, and his presence wasn't _that_ unexpected after all.

Australia leaned against the doorjamb and watched him a moment. There he was dressed all in red, pulling packages from a large bag at his side, piling them carefully beneath the Christmas tree. It seemed he was completely unaware that he wasn't the only one up moving about.

Well. Something had to give. "Evenin', Finland," he said.

Finland froze. His busy hands stilled. Then he simply chuckled and resumed placing the last of the packages under the tree. "Good morning," he said.

A glance at the clock. 12:01. "So it is."

Finland rose, brushed a few stray evergreen needles off his pants. Smiled. "You're supposed to be in ibed/i," he said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nah," he lied. "No worries. I wasn't even thinking of going to sleep yet." He could see him eyeing his mussed hair, his pyjamas, bare feet. Maybe Finland realized it was all a bluff. Probably.

"Come with me, then."

"What?"

"Come with me," Finland repeated, grinning as he hoisted the bag over his shoulder. "Just to do the next town over. Since you're still wide awake, I mean."

* * *

It took very little persuasion for Australia to agree to the idea. Though at first he protested as a matter of course - after all, Finland was _Santa_, didn't he have a lot of places he needed to be? - all Finland had to do was assure him that the deliveries were ahead of schedule, no really he didn't mind one bit, and that a little company for a while wouldn't slow him up at all.

In very little time they were up in the air, the roos bounding through the clear, dark sky. The sleigh was smaller than it looked, and Australia found it a tight squeeze to sit next to Finland, who took up more space than he had initially expected.

"Looks like you don't usually plan for having passengers," he said as he shifted a bit, attempting to get comfortable in the close space.

"No," Finland admitted. "This is kind of, um, an unusual circumstance!"

One more movement - there. Comfortable. For the moment, at least. "Yeah?" Australia asked as he watched the lights of the town come into view, so many points of yellow light. "So I'm special, then?" Beneath them, the world - or at least, a small part of it - passed by, growing closer as they began their gradual descent.

"I guess you could say that." Though he wasn't looking at him, Australia was sure Finland was grinning.

In spite of the cool night air whipping past them, he suddenly felt so warm.

* * *

When Australia woke the following morning, it was with grogginess and several failed attempts to hold on to sleep.

Loud, irritating chirping outside his window. Damn birds, he thought as he shoved his head under the pillow to try to drown out the sound. In spite of that usual annoyance, he was distracted. He couldn't shake the dream.

He remembered it vividly - the sensation of the earth dropping away as they rose into the sky, the surprisingly chilly night air, the warm feeling that came from being beside a friend. And when they reached the ground, too, he remembered it, sneaking in to the homes of his citizens - even if it wasn't _really_ sneaking, really, not breaking and entering, really - to slide gifts under the trees, surrounded by tinsel and glitter and fake pine scent. Laughter on the return trip, Finland teasing him, saying that with his loud and heavy walk, he really wasn't cut out to be Santa's helper at all - but all that in jest, friendly jabs that Australia returned at every opportunity.

Well. No point in thinking about it much. That dream was just a dream, and it was Christmas morning. There were things to be done, and people to be called.

Coffee, first. That was what he needed.

* * *

Australia didn't notice the box on the bedside table until he made to head for the kitchen. Small, patterned with black and white, and tied with a red ribbon. The candies in the box rattled as he set it aside to read the note which sat folded up beneath it.

He raised an eyebrow as he unfolded it, and as he began to read, the other quickly joined it. The dream, it seemed, hadn't been a dream at all.

_Australia -_

_I hope you enjoyed our trip!_

_Merry Christmas! I promise I won't wake you up next time!_

_-Finland_

_PS: I hope you like the salmiakki! It's kind of an acquired taste!_

"Right then, mate. You won't go waking me up," Australia said to himself as he folded the note. "'Cause I sure won't be sleeping."

He smiled. That was how it would be.


End file.
